Spectrum: Autism Research News

The new director of the National Institute of Mental Health says work on brain circuits may yield treatments for autism.

More than 80 percent of people with Sotos syndrome show signs of autism, such as social anxiety and restricted interests.

New cages for mice mimic the animals’ natural burrows, providing a realistic environment for studies of social behavior.

Women who are overweight or obese when pregnant increase their risk of having a child who is later diagnosed with autism by about 30 percent.

A new approach quickly captures an individual’s gene expression pattern at the level of a single neuron.

A new stem cell model of Angelman syndrome delivers evidence for three molecular mechanisms underlying the condition — and one potential treatment.

Neural stem cells derived from boys with autism of unknown cause may share genetic, chemical and physical features absent in cells from their typical brothers.

Female rats exposed to the pesticide chlorpyrifos show little interest in social interaction.

Cannabidiol alleviates seizures and restores social ability in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome by soothing overexcitement in the brain.

Three studies suggest that microglia, the brain’s immune cells, join forces with neurons in a sex-specific manner.